


Flower Crowns

by Deathbyelephants



Category: Free!
Genre: Family, Fluff, M/M, and Makoto and Haru have a child, and they're all so happy, like everyone loves each other, makoharu - Freeform, makoharu family, theyre all just a big happy family tbh, uncle rin, uncle sousuke, visits from the others
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 06:51:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4338167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deathbyelephants/pseuds/Deathbyelephants
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto and Haru have been married for five years now, and their life couldn't be better. They have a lovely townhouse along the beach to call home, along with a little girl named Hanako. Together, the three of them live a content life as a family. Things start to fall apart, however, as the stress of Makoto's job gets to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

"Look how cute she is, Haru," Makoto whispers.

"Mhm," Haru smiles, gazing down upon their newly adopted child.

The morning light hits the baby girl's face, making her rosy cheeks shine. Her chocolate brown eyes stare up at the two with wonder. Makoto strokes the girl's cheek and she giggles, grabbing Makoto's hair with joy.

"Ouch!" Makoto laughs and tries to pry off her hands from his hair.

Immediately after the girl's hands leave Makoto, she starts to scream and cry. Makoto quickly scrambles around the nursery looking for a toy to keep her quiet. Everything Makoto gives her is thrown across the room. Eventually he gives up.

"Haru, what do we do? Nothing's working!" 

Haru glances over at the vase of flowers by the window. "Babies like to chew on things, right?" 

"Yes, but I'm not sure that-"

The crying suddenly stops and Makoto looks over to find the baby with a daisy in her hand, staring at it with fascination. After inspecting it, she holds the flower tightly to her chest and slowly drifts off to sleep.

"Hanako."

"What?" Makoto stares at Haru in confusion.

"It's her name. The flower child," Haru glances at the crib.

"Of course. Only you would come up with a name like that, Haru," Makoto puts his arms around Haru from behind and kisses his cheek, his dopey smile stretching from ear to ear. 

Haru blushes and gazes into Makoto's eyes with love. "We have a family now, Makoto. Can you believe it?"

"No, but I'm glad I'm starting it with you," Makoto puts his chin on Haru's head, and they both smile, ready for what the future holds for them.


	2. 1

"Daddy, look!"

Haru turns around to see Hanako staring up at him with a bundle of flowers in her hand. He crouches down to Hanako's eye level and takes a look at what she had gathered. 

How unusual, he thinks. She only picked the purple flowers. 

"They're beautiful. Would you like me to take them inside for you?" 

"Yes please!" Hanako grins and runs back into the garden.

"Stay where I can see you, Hanako!" Haru yells after the girl.

He smiles to himself as he walks into the house. He makes his way to the kitchen and sits at the dining table, absentmindedly playing with Hanako's flowers. It seems like only yesterday when they had made their garden.

It was actually Makoto's idea. They had a cozy townhouse right by the ocean, but it still didn't really feel like home. So Makoto came up with a plan to grow a garden in front of their house, since Hanako seemed to love flowers so much. One day, he went to a small florist in town and bought all sorts of different flowers to grow together. They spent the entire afternoon planting the garden. Makoto would cover the seeds in soil while Haru helped Hanako water them. Over time, the simple idea turned into everyone's favorite part of the house, especially Hanako's. 

Haru's trance breaks when he hears Hanako opens the front door. "Daddy, where are you?"

"In the kitchen."

Hanako skips through the kitchen entrance and climbs onto Haru's lap. "What'd you make?" 

"What do you mean?"

"My flowers. What'd you do with them?" Hanako points to Haru's hands.

"Oh," Haru looks down to see a messy halo of flowers braided together. "I guess I made a crown out of them. Sorry princess, I didn't mean to."

"It's okay, Daddy. I think it looks pretty!" 

"Thank you, princess. Did you get any more flowers? Maybe we can make some more of them together," Haru suggests.

"Here you go," Hanako smiles sweetly and hands Haru a bundle of green and blue flowers.

Haru takes one green blossom and sets it to the side. Then he takes a blue one and puts it to the right. "Now, Hanako, do you know which flower is green?"

"That one," Hanako points to the left. 

"Correct! Now what color is the other flower?"

Hanako hesitates, "Purple?"

"Close, sweetie; do you know what color comes before purple in the rainbow?" 

"Blue!" 

"Exactly, great job Hanako!" Haru ruffles her hair gently, causing her to giggle. "Do you think we can separate the two colors so that green is over here and blue is over there?" he says, gesturing to the two colored blossoms.

Hanako nods her head enthusiastically.

"I'll sort the green ones, then. You can do the blue ones. Sound good?"

The two quickly separate the different flowers and get started on making the crowns. They finish the green one and are almost done with the blue crown when Haru sees a familiar car pull into the driveway. 

"Stay right here, Hanako. I'll be right back," Haru pats the girl's head and makes his way outside.

"Makoto," he sighs when he spots his husband slide out of the car.

"Hello, Haru-chan!" Makoto embraces Haru and gives him a quick peck on the cheek. 

"Drop the chan already," Haru smiles and takes Makoto's black firefighter helmet off his head. Suddenly he frowns. "You've got soot all over you! Give me your stuff and go clean up. I'll throw your uniform in the wash and start cooking dinner."

"Thanks, Haru."

"Maki!" Hanako hurls herself at Makoto as they walk inside.

"Hi, pumpkin. How was your day with Daddy?"

"It was good. We made you something!" 

"Oh, really," Makoto looks back at Haru, who looks amused.

"I'll go get it," Hanako sprints to the kitchen and returns with the flower crowns. "This one's for you, Maki, because it's the same as your eyes," she hands him the green crown as she explains seriously. "And I finished this one all by myself for you, Daddy, because blue's your favorite color."

Haru takes the blue crown and puts it on his head. "Thank you, princess, it's beautiful."

"Yes, these are wonderful," Makoto grins. "Tell you what, I'm going to wash up a bit, and I'll definitely wear mine when I come out of the shower."

"Okay, Maki," she grins, and skips across the house to her room.

"She's too cute," Haru watches her leave.

"Not as cute as you," Makoto tilts Haru's chin up to give him a warm kiss.

Haru looks down at their feet, pink in the cheeks. "Leave your clothes on our bed and I'll pick them up later. If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen."

Thanks, Haru. Love you!" Makoto calls as he trudges upstairs.

"I know you do," Haru whispers happily.


	3. 2

"Mackerel again?" Makoto asks Haru jokingly.

"We didn't have it yesterday," Haru answers simply as he gets ready for dinner.

"Fair enough," Makoto laughs. "You sure you don't want help with that?" he gestures to the stack of dishes balanced precariously in Haru's arms.

"No, I've got it. You just sit down and-," a plate topples off of the pile. Quickly, Makoto sticks out his hand to catch it just before it reaches the floor.

"I think it'd be best if I took some of the dishes for you," Makoto says with a smile.

"How'd you do that?" Haru gives Makoto a small stack.

"Reflexives. Probably from work." 

"Oh," Haru finishes setting the table. "Hanako, dinner!" he calls for the girl.

"Coming!" they hear her footsteps through the hall.

Makoto places the last plate on the table just as Hanako comes running through the doorway. He turns around and scoops her up, hoisting her into the air. "Is my baby girl ready to eat?"

"I'm a big girl, Maki," she says seriously.

"Of course you are, pumpkin," Makoto hugs her tightly then sets her down in her booster seat.

Haru goes around to everyone's plate, serving the desired amount of food. "This looks amazing, as always," Makoto compliments.

"Thank you," Haru looks at Makoto with pride.

"Daddy, help!" Hanako bangs her plastic fork on the table, drawing attention from both parents.

Haru leans over to cut up her mackerel, making sure not to let it touch any of the other foods on her plate. God forbid anything touches, Haru thought. We don't need a repeat of last time. It took months for us to scrape all the mashed potatoes off the wall.

"So, how was work?" Haru inquires.

"It was fine. Only one mishap today. The kitchen from a small diner had malfunctioned and ended up setting the entire place on fire. Luckily we got there before anyone got hurt," Makoto explains.

"You're not getting near the flames though, are you?"

"Of course not. I promised you from the beginning that I would work from a distance. No running into the burning buildings at all."

"Good," Haru returns to his food. "I'm just worried about you. I don't know what I would do if you weren't here."

"You really shouldn't worry. I'll be fine. It's Hanako you should be keeping an eye on," Makoto nods toward the girl, stifling his laughter.

"What?" Haru looks up to see bits of mackerel piled on top of Hanako's head.

Hanako giggles and stuffs a handful of the fish in her mouth.

"Silly girl," Makoto smiles and brushes food out of her hair with his fingers. "I'll take her to get cleaned up while you finish your dinner."

"You sure?" Haru gazes at his husband with concern. "You really should take it easy."

"Oh, Haru-chan. You worry way too much about me. How about you just try to relax for a bit. Watch some TV or something. This won't take long," Makoto picks up Hanako and carries her out of the room.

"Drop the chan," Haru mutters with a small smile and returns his attention to his food.

He shook his head a little as he looked down. I shouldn't worry so much, he thinks. It's just, what would I do if I didn't have him here with me?


	4. 3

"Goodnight, pumpkin. Love you," Makoto whispers as he closes Hanako's bedroom door.

"It only took an hour that time," Haru says from behind Makoto.

"Oh, shut up. You know she's difficult to put to bed. Plus, she always needs to be told a bedtime story."

"Did you read the dictionary or something?" 

"What's got you all in a knot?" Makoto's face softens. "Look, I'm sorry I took so long. Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

"Can we just-," Haru cuts himself off.

"You want to just lay in bed for a bit? I know Hanako must've tired you out. I could probably use some rest as well. Let's go on and get ready then," they walk upstairs to their room.

After a warm bath for Haru, the two lay side by side. Makoto has on only his favorite plaid pajama bottoms while Haru insisted on wearing one of Makoto's shirts, which went down to his knees. 

They snuggle up in silence, listening to the crickets chirping outside their window. After a while, Haru turns to face Makoto, their faces nearly touching. He runs his hand through Makoto's silky hair before giving him a small peck on his nose.

Makoto smiles and wraps his arms around Haru, pulling him in closer. "You know, I really think you've opened up since we've had Hanako."

"Hm?" Haru mumbles into Makoto's shoulder.

"Well, you used to never talk. You probably spoke an average of ten words a day. But here you are now, having full conversations like it's no problem. And then there was that time before college when you had a complete breakdown but you wouldn't tell us what was wrong. You would never show any of us your true feelings. I still don't think you do, but you've gotten much better about communicating."

"I'm sorry that I changed so much," Haru grumbles.

"That's not a bad thing, Haru. You might have changed a bit, but my love for you hasn't. I still get that fluttery feeling in my chest every time we hold hands," Makoto squeezes Haru's hand gently. "And I still get all tingly inside when you kiss me, even though we've done it a thousand times," he kisses Haru's lips softly. "And of course I still get excited each morning when I wake up beside you, because I get to spend another day with the man I love."

"You're so cheesy," Haru grins slightly and starts tracing his fingers along Makoto's bare chest. "That's one thing that's hasn't changed."

"I was never cheesy!" Makoto acts offended.

"Sure," Haru rolls his eyes slightly.

"Give me one example of when I was cheesy."

"How about your marriage proposal? As much as I love it, and you know I do, you've got to admit it was cheesy."

Their engagement is practically the definition of cheesy. They were walking along the beach in the evening like they normally do, when Makoto suddenly stopped. Haru walked a few more steps before he realized his partner was gone. He turned around to ask what was wrong when he saw Makoto on one knee holding out a box. He froze and took a step forward, his eyes glistening. Makoto opened the box and asked Haru's hand in marriage, the ring glinting in the sunset. Haru nodded his head furiously, his eyes now full of joyful tears. Makoto grabbed his hands and softly pulled him down. Staring straight into Haru's brilliant blue eyes, he slipped the ring on his finger and kissed him. They just sat there for the rest of dusk, half crying and half giggling out of happiness before they finally slowly made their way back home.

"Okay, fine. Maybe I can be a be a bit cheesy. But that's not all bad," Makoto admits.

"Of course not," Haru says. "There's countless things that I love about you, and cheesiness happens to be one of them," he yawns quietly and snuggles closer to Makoto.

"Thank you, Haru. Now I think it's time for you to go to sleep. You seem pretty exhausted." 

"Goodnight, Makoto. I love you," Haru closes his eyes.

"I love you too," Makoto kisses the top of Haru's head and slowly drifts off, happy as can be.


End file.
